In today's challenging health care environment, health
care organizations are faced with improving patient outcomes,
redesigning business processes, and executing quality and risk
management initiatives. Health Care Quality Management
offers an introduction to the field and practice of quality
management and reveals the best practices and strategies health
care organizations can adopt to improve patient outcomes and
program quality.

* Filled with illustrative case studies that show how business
processes can be restructured to achieve improvements in quality,
risk reduction, and other key business results and outcomes

* Clearly demonstrates how to effectively use process analysis
tools to identify issues and causes, select corrective actions, and
monitor implemented solutions

* Includes vital information on the use of statistical process
control to monitor system performance (variables) and outcomes
(attributes)

* Also contains multiple data sets that can be used to practice
the skills and tools discussed and reviews examples of where and
how the tools have been applied in health care

* Provides information on root cause analysis and failure mode
effects analysis and offers, as discussion, the clinical tools and
applications that are used to improve patient care

By emphasizing the tools of statistics and information technology,
this book teaches future health care professionals how to identify
opportunities for quality improvement and use the tools to make
those improvements.

Thomas K. Ross, PhD, is assistant professor of health services and information management in College of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.

Health Care Quality Management: Tools and Applications

In today's challenging health care environment, health care organizations are faced with improving patient outcomes, redesigning business processes, and executing quality and risk management initiatives. Health Care Quality Management offers an introduction to the field and practice of quality management and reveals the best practices and strategies health care organizations can adopt to improve patient outcomes and program quality.

Health Care Quality Management is filled with illustrative case studies that show how business processes can be restructured to achieve improvements in quality, risk reduction, and other key business results and outcomes. The book clearly demonstrates how to effectively use process analysis tools to identify issues and causes, select corrective actions, and monitor implemented solutions. The author includes vital information on the use of statistical process control to monitor system performance (variables) and outcomes (attributes). The book also contains multiple data sets that can be used to practice the skills and tools discussed and reviews examples of where and how the tools have been applied in health care. In addition, the author includes information on root cause analysis and failure mode effects analysis and offers, as discussion, the clinical tools and applications that are used to improve patient care.

In today's challenging health care environment, health care organizations are faced with improving patient outcomes, redesigning business processes, and executing quality and risk management initiatives. Health Care Quality Management offers an introduction to the field and practice of quality management and reveals the best practices and strategies health care organizations can adopt to improve patient outcomes and program quality.

• Filled with illustrative case studies that show how business processes can be restructured to achieve improvements in quality, risk reduction, and other key business results and outcomes
• Clearly demonstrates how to effectively use process analysis tools to identify issues and causes, select corrective actions, and monitor implemented solutions
• Includes vital information on the use of statistical process control to monitor system performance (variables) and outcomes (attributes)
• Also contains multiple data sets that can be used to practice the skills and tools discussed and reviews examples of where and how the tools have been applied in health care
• Provides information on root cause analysis and failure mode effects analysis and offers, as discussion, the clinical tools and applications that are used to improve patient care

Figures and Tables xi

Preface xix

The Author xxvi

Part 1: The State of Quality Management in Health Care

Chapter 1 Quality in Health Care 3

Introduction 3

The Goal of Quality Management 5

Quality Pioneers in Health Care 12

Requisite Skills for Improving Health Care 19

Quality Control in Industry 23

System Thinking 27

Summary 33

References 35

Chapter 2 Error and Variation 37

Introduction 37

The Medical Decision-Making Process 37

Human Error and James Reason 40

Small Area Variations and John Wennberg 43

Practice Guidelines and Brent James 49

The Structure-Process-Outcome Paradigm 50

The Three Faces of Quality 51

Underuse, Overuse, and Misuse 55

Controlling Variation and Improving Outcomes 57

Summary 58

References 60

Chapter 3 Regulating the Quality and Quantity of Health Care 63

Introduction 63

Licensure, Accreditation, and Credentialing 65

Malpractice 71

The Economics of Health Care Markets 73

A Brief History of Health Care Financing in the United States 88

Pay for Performance and the CMS Quality Initiative 102

Summary 105

References 108

Part 2: Quality Management Tools

Chapter 4 Process Analysis Tools 113

Introduction 113

Tools to Identify Problems 116

Tools to Identify Causes 137

Tools to Identify Solutions 146

Tool to Monitor Progress 152

Summary 155

References 159

Chapter 5 Root Cause Analysis 161

Introduction 161

Root Cause Analysis 162

Single-Event Analysis 178

Multiple-Event Analysis 189

Prevention and Recovery 199

Cases and Applications 205

Summary 212

References 214

Chapter 6 Statistical Process Control for Monitoring System Performance 217

Introduction 217

Statistics Review 220

Types of Variation 226

Setting Performance Targets 228

Statistical Process Control for Continuous Data: x¯ and R Charts 231

Tinkering 255

Cases and Applications 257

Summary 261

References 264

Chapter 7 Statistical Process Control for Monitoring Failure Rates 265

Introduction 265

Statistical Process Control for Binomial Data: p and np Charts 266

Establishing Valid Control Limits 282

Constant and Variable Control Limits 284

Rebasing Control Limits and Monitoring Changes over Time 287

Cases and Applications 290

Improving Performance Using SPC 295

Summary 296

References 299

Chapter 8 Statistical Process Control for Monitoring Nonconformities 301

Introduction 301

Statistical Process Control for Counts: c and u Charts 302

Medicare Hospital Quality Initiative Example 312

Cases and Applications 317

Selecting a Control Chart 321

Benefits of SPC 323

Inhibit…